To Learn of Ignorance
by AidennPluto
Summary: Yusuke is bored. Bored enough to ask Kurama about the essay he's writing. The conversation doesn't go the way he wanted it to, but when does it ever? Slight KuramaYusuke; a brief lesson on the history of homophobia. It isn't pretty, but it's true.


**EDIT 11/28/09: **I changed some things around to get rid of some OOC-ness.

**A/N:** I came accross a brief mention of Alan Turing in the book "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow (go read it) and I was curious. So after some research, this was born. It certainly wasn't boring to write, so I hope it won't be boring to read.

**Warnings:** Slight shounen ai, history lessons. Depending on your tastes, either one can be considered worse than the other.

**Disclaimer:** If you sue, I will laugh at you. Very hard.

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"So… what are you doing?"

If anyone had ever asked Yusuke if hanging around Kurama could ever be boring, he probably would have laughed in their face. How boring could a several thousand year old demon who looked like a girl and knew the craziest _shit _really be? You always had to watch your back around him; not that he would attack Yusuke, but who knew what sneaky plants he had that might mess with his brain and actually make him _want _to go to school?

The thought made Yusuke shudder.

Yusuke's belief that Kurama could never be boring was shattered that night. He lay in Kurama's bed, staring morosely at the ceiling, as the fox-demon worked on an essay for school.

And essay. _For school._

He'd been sitting at that desk for at least an hour, elegant kanji filling the page bit by bit. By now, Yusuke would have lost his patience fifty times over.

"I'm writing an essay for school Yusuke," Kurama answered blandly, fountain pen not faltering in its writing.

"_What _are you writing?" Sometimes getting an answer from Kurama was like pulling teeth. With your bare hands. The teeth of a stone statue. Whose mouth was closed. _Impossible._

"I already answered that. An essay."

"An essay about what?"

"About a historical figure from the 1900's."

"Who? I mean, not that I'll know him, or anything. Or her," he added as an afterthought.

"A man named Alan Turing."

And proof of how utterly _bored _Yusuke was, he feigned interest. "Who the fuck was Alan Turbling?"

"Turing," Kurama corrected automatically, then stopped writing and glanced over his shoulder at Yusuke.

"Yusuke, if you're bored, maybe you should go home."

Yusuke sat up and glared at Kurama. "If you wanted me to leave, you just had to say something." He turned around to the open window and propped his leg on the window-sill as though he was going to leave, knowing Kurama would stop him. A gentle hand fell on his shoulder. He hadn't even heard Kurama move.

"You know that's not what I meant," he said.

And Yusuke did know that. No matter how different from each other they were, no matter how difficult Yusuke could be sometimes, Kurama never pretended to enjoy his company. He honestly did. Sighing, Yusuke closed the window and flopped back on the bed, arms crossed and frowning petulantly.

"Then talk to me."

Kurama smiled and sat down on the bed next to Yusuke with a great deal more grace than the brunette had. "Well since you asked about Alan Turing, let's talk about him, shall we?"

Yusuke groaned. "C'mon, Kurama! You know I only asked cuz I wanted you to say something! I don't care about some shithead who did something amazing making people worship his fucking ass until this very day."

"Alan Turing," Kurama began, with a teasing smile, "is considered to be the father of modern computer science. He was born in a very religious Britain, and was himself a very religious man until after his best friend died of a disease in while at school."

"Poor guy. I feel sorry for him. Really. Let's talk about something interesting, like fighting techniques."

Kurama ignored him. "From there, became interested in science, often finding himself in conflict with authority. He shunned conventionality, and was noted for his ambition and inability to fit in society."

Kurama tilted his head and smiled. Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Yea, yea, I get what you're trying to say. He's like me, so I'm supposed to be interested."

"Oh no, he was nothing like you. Laziness was never something he had ever been accused of."

"Funny," Yusuke deadpanned.

"I won't bore you with the details of his childhood, or of his work. He's best known for his discussions on the possibility of artificial intelligence, and for cracking German ciphers and codes during World War II. Unfortunately, he was outed in the course of a police investigation and spent the rest of his life taking hormone injections."

Yusuke watched Kurama cautiously as the redhead glided across the room and picked out a book from his extensive library collection. "His most famous memorial is in England," he said, showing Yusuke a picture of a statue sitting on a metal bench.

Hesitating, Yusuke took the opportunity of looking at the picture to avoid Kurama's eyes. "By outed," he said, "you mean they found out he was – gay?"

Kurama hummed in confirmation, snapping the book closed.

"Well, so what?"

"In the 1900's, and before that as well, homosexuality was considered a gross indecency as well as a mental illness in Human World. It was punishable by law, and often enough, with death. It still is in some places."

"Wait, so they shot him with hormones to make him… what, less gay?"

"That's the gist of it, yes."

Yusuke's face twisted in an awkward grimace as he fought back a laugh. He pictured a guy suddenly tearing a frilly pink shirt off his chest like Superman, realizing how gay it looked. A question popped into his mind, and he glanced up quickly at Kurama, wondering if the conversation should just end with that. If felt weird to talk to his male friend about such a subject. But then again, Kurama had never been his typical teenage friend.

"But if they thought it was a mental illness, how can they kill 'em for it? It's not their fault they've got a mental illness."

"Perhaps an excuse. Or rather two excuses to intervene in someone's life, in case one failed. Perhaps fear. History is full of tragedies caused by things man didn't understand. The burning of people suffering from epileptic seizures, for fear that they were witches or warlocks. Sacrificing people to inexistent Gods because the weather was bad. It's just… human nature."

Yusuke stared at his hands for a while, his face carefully blank. He thought about Chapter Black, and realized just what kind of stuff might be on it, to make people hate humanity so much.

"So, what happened to him? Turing, I mean."

"He was found dead one day, next to a half eaten apple. The cause of death was recorded as cyanide poisoning. Though suicide is the commonly accepted explanation, his mother was convinced it was accidental; that he merely accidentally stored his chemicals in his laboratory wrong. It's hypothesized that Turing staged his death intentionally to give his mother the option of denial."

"Shit. Sounds like something you would do," Yusuke commented.

"And that's why I tend to believe the commonly accepted suicide explanation."

"So I guess the injections didn't work, huh?"

"They might have. But Turing was never one to deny his nature. He wouldn't want to live as someone he wasn't."

Yusuke stared at his hands without really seeing them. He saw Kurama smile and lean back against the wall out of the corner of his eye.

"Spit it out," the redhead said.

"Huh?"

"The question. I can see you working up to something you want to ask."

Yusuke's face flushed slightly, and he looked away fro Kurama. "Okay, but it might sound weird."

"It could hardly be the weirdest question you've asked."

Yusuke flushed a darker shade of red, remembering his absent-minded inquiry the previous week after fighting an octopus demon with tentacles coming out of her back. _Did you ever sleep with one of those? I'll bet those tentacles make for a really fun time…_

"Okay," Yusuke said hastily. "Why is it that people look down on gay men more than gay women? It's just that guys are always hyped up on girl-on-girl action, but they see a gay guy and freak."

Kurama tilted his head as though considering the question. "Men often seen two girls together as simply sexually attractive; they don't see them as literally in love and devoted to each other," he began slowly. "Male heterosexuality is defined not only as an attraction to women, but also as a _lack _of attraction to other men. Therefore, homophobia is meant to accent their masculinity, and they belittle gay men because they see them as not "manly" enough. So I guess you could say that male homosexuality being treated worse is a sexist notion; that a man is superior to a woman and so to take a woman's place in a relationship is demeaning."

"Whoa. No way, Keiko kicks ass." He snickered, picturing her red face and fist-waving if she'd heard what Kurama had said. He couldn't imagine her inferior in anything.

Yusuke frowned down at his hands again, thinking over everything. If he had looked at Kurama, he might have seen the smirk on his face. "What about you, Yusuke? You grew up here, under the label of a thug. Surely you must have picked on someone because he was girly, or not as tough as you."

Yusuke's eyes snapped up to him. "I never picked on you, did I flower-boy? It's none of my fucking business who they fuck. I know what some people say – crap like "God hates fags" and stuff like that. I don't know much about Enma, but I'm sure he doesn't hate people for who they are."

Yusuke hated the indulgent look on Kurama's face in that moment, and for a second, he felt like there was something he was missing. But then the moment passed, and Kurama was his gentle self again. "Some people need over a lifetime to figure that out."

Something Kurama had said stuck in Yusuke's mind. "Wait. You said something – that to be gay was considered sick in Human World. Does that mean that demons aren't – you know – weird with all this?"

"Not at all," Kurama said with a smile. "A factor for homophobia also lies in humanity's desire to procreate. Demons have longer lifespans; they don't worry about dying out. Sex is sex no matter who it's with. Some demons naturally prefer either females or males, but it's not exclusive."

"So – so you –"

"Yes, Yusuke," Kurama said patiently. "I've had sex with men before."

Yusuke's face was quickly regaining its rosy complexion from earlier that night. "Ah – wow. Great. I mean, not great, just… cool." He tried to look nonchalant, but Kurama's smile was getting wider, and his eyes narrowed playfully.

_Uh oh. _

Suddenly, Yusuke was leaning back on his elbows, breathing rapidly, Kurama's face inches from his own. The redhead was resting on an arm placed on the bed next to Yusuke's chest. Yusuke could feel Kurama's warm breath on his face and it smelled like spices, and his bright green eyes were looking into his own, framed sensually by dark lashes. Yusuke felt face heat up as he tried to draw away but found his knee held in place by Kurama's other hand.

"Wha – what are you doing?"

"Testing you."

Yusuke swallowed dryly. "Huh?" he inquired.

"I wanted to see if you're really as open minded as you say you are. If you really have nothing against homosexuality, then kiss me."

Yusuke's eyes widened considerably. "What?! Just because I've got nothin' against gay people doesn't mean I'm gay!"

"I didn't say you were. I'm not asking you to be turned on. I'm asking you to kiss me."

Yusuke spluttered intelligently, and briefly considered pushing Kurama away. But for some reason, his arms wouldn't listen to him. Several seconds passed, Yusuke's hard breathing the only sound in the room. Eventually Kurama drew back laughing.

"Ah, Yusuke. You should have seen your face. Deer in the headlights. Teasing you never gets old – mphh."

Though it happened very rarely, Kurama was taken by complete surprise as Yusuke suddenly sprang up and grabbed him by the back of the neck, smashing their mouths together. As far as kisses went, it wasn't great. It was just like Yusuke: brash, rough, making up for inexperience with enthusiasm. When he pulled away, his face resembled a tomato.

"Don't call me a _deer. _A deer is cute. I am not cute. Just don't think this means anything."

Kurama laughed again, and shook his head. "You're really something Yusuke."

"Yea. Yea, I am. Me and Turing both, we're something. So now what? You going back to your essay?"

"I can work on it tomorrow. I believe you wanted to discuss some fighting techniques?"

Yusuke settled back on the bed and sighed in contentment. Finally, something was going his way tonight.

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**A/N:** Yes, "God hates fags" is an actual slogan that some churches use. Some churches also believe that all natural disasters and wars are God's punishment of humanity's "toleration" of homosexuality. I do believe in God, but the Church's view is not God's.

But that's just my opinion. :) What's yours?

Feedback appreciated.


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